The field of this disclosure relates generally to electricity theft, and more particularly to the detection of electricity theft.
For many years, electric utility companies have discovered consumers that have attempted to steal power from the utility company. Moreover, as fuel and heating costs have risen, the number of consumers attempting to steal power has also risen. When inverted in a meter socket, at least some known electro-mechanical electricity meters may be incapable of detecting a flow of energy therethrough. For example, electricity meters that include 2-wire, one phase residential service meters that use a Form 1S are symmetrical and, after being inverted, generally cannot detect a flow of energy therethrough. Other known electricity meters that include 3-wire, two phase residential service meters that use a Form 2S generally detect a flow of received energy therethrough after being inverted. Some electricity customers have tampered with electricity meters by inverting the meters in their meter sockets in an attempt to reduce an accumulated energy reading on the meters, thereby reducing electricity bills associated with those meters.
Because residential electricity theft is a significant loss of revenue for electric utility companies, many electric utility companies would benefit from a timely alert that a potential electricity theft has been detected.